1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a shielded connector with a metallic resilient locking piece engageable with a mating connector. Moreover, the invention relates to a method for producing a resin part assembly, such as a connector.
2. Description of the Related Art
U.S. Pat. No. 5,660,558 and FIGS. 11 and 12 herein disclose a shielded connector. With reference to FIGS. 11 and 12, the connector has a housing 1 made of a synthetic resin. Metallic shielding plates 2, 3 are mounted from above and below to cover outer surfaces of the housing 1, and a cover 4 made of a synthetic resin is mounted to cover the outer surfaces of the shielding plates 2, 3. The upper shielding plate 2 is formed integrally with a resilient locking piece 5 that is resiliently deformable up and down. A locking projection 5A is provided at the leading end of the resilient locking piece 5 to lock the connector with the mating connector. An operable portion 6 is formed at the upper surface of the cover 4 and is resiliently deformable up and down. The operable portion 6 can be pressed to deform the locking piece 5 down and to disengage the locking projection 5A from the mating connector.
The operable portion 6 takes advantages of the resilient deformation of the resin, and may be damaged while an unlocking operation is repeated. Hence, durability of the above-described connector is low
A resin part assembly (e.g. a connector) that has several resin parts typically requires the parts to be molded by individual molding machines. The respective resin parts are collected at one place and assembled successively. However, molding, transporting and assembling steps are necessary for the respective resin parts. The number of operation steps drive up production costs. Further, it is necessary to control molds for the resin parts, which leads to a further increase in the production costs.
U.S. patent application Pub. Ser. No. 2002/0028611 discloses a method that includes molding an intermediate product with integral resin parts, such as a housing and a retainer, so that assembling directions are oriented in a specified direction. The resin parts are separated successively from the intermediate product and assembled. This method reduces the number of operation steps, including molding and transporting steps. Thus, the mold can be controlled easily and plural integral resin parts can be molded by one mold. However, operation steps, such as positioning and inserting the parts, still must be performed every time the resin part is separated. The number of operation steps is still too large to realize satisfactory production cost savings.
The invention was developed in view of the above and an object is to provide a shielded connector an a production method with reduced costs.